Kettlebells and Martial Arts where is the connection??

Kettlebells and Martial Arts where is the connection??

 

Over the last 2 years I have been converted to the Kettlebell cult lead by Pavel Tsatsouline (www.dragondoor.com). If you have read my posts you know my obsession in finding training methods that are efficient and easy to duplicate. If you have not go back and read previous blog posts to get up to speed on my thoughts on training methods and their importance in not only training but teaching as well.

Pavel’s book Enter the Kettlebell is probably one of the most read books in my house along with The Tao of Jeet Kune Do. The thing that struck me immediately is that Pavel’s whole philosophy revolves around safe training methods and easy to understand training protocols.

The first training method is the Russian Kettlebell Challenge (RKC) minimum. The RKC minimum is as Pavel calls it simple and sinister. It consists of 2 Kettlebell movements and a lot of practice. It’s not exciting but man does it kick your butt!!! The two movements are the Swing and the Turkish Get-Up. Pavel refers to the Swing as a Ballistic movement and the Get-Up a Slow Grind.

Ok so I hear you asking what is the point of this post??And how do the above apply to Martial Arts training? Well for the most part your entire stand up game is comprised of ballistic movements and the slow grind of stalking your opponent down. Your clinch game is really slow grinds in getting position mixed with ballistic movements such as striking or throws/takedowns. On the ground it is all about the slow grind of obtaining dominate position and securing, escaping positions is for the most part also a slow grind mixed with some ballistic movements. Your ballistic movements are very often exploding into a submission or striking after the slow grind of getting the proper postion.

Again the Swing is not as sexy as the Windmill and the Get-Up is not as exciting as Kettlebell juggling just as the slow grind of rounds of Muay Thai or isolating a hip throw or a takedown. Here is the really fricking cool part, if proper time is spent on building your foundation with either the Kettlebell or Martial Arts training these two principles and training methods will build you  simple yet sinister skill sets that your peers will be amazed at.

So in closing remember simple training methods that stress building a solid foundation, attention to the details and lots of quality will take you to new heights in your skill level.

As Sijo Bruce said “In JKD, one does not accumulate but eliminate. It is not daily increase but daily decrease. The height of cultivation always runs to simplicity.”

Happy Headbutting,

Shawn

Muay Thai and Kettlebell Training

Muay Thai and Kettlebell Training

Hello all… I was looking at Ajarn Chai’s ( http://www.thaiboxing.com) website this morning and saw that they have revamped it. On the page there was an article re: Kettlebell and Muay Thai training to say that I was excited was an understatement.

For those of you who don’t know who Ajarn Chai is he has the oldest Thai Boxing organization in the U.S. Ajarn Chai began the Thai Boxing Association of the USA (TBA-USA) in 1968 and has worked tirelessly since to spread Thai Boxing around the world. And those of you who have met Ajarn Chai know that the word tirelessly is an understatement.

I began training in Muay Thai formally in 1997 under my Instructor Kru Dave Hatch (http://attributivemartialarts.com)  in Canton Michigan. I had the great pleasure of being asked to hold for Kru Dave as he was getting ready for his Level 1, Level 2 and Apprentice Thai Boxing Instructorship under Ajarn Chai. Kru Dave was one of the oldest students ever to test for is Apprentice Instructorship @ the age of 49.

I have trained Kettlebells since 2007 and really believed that the Kettlebell would be a great tool to pair with Thai Boxing training for Conditioning and reenforcing the dynamic hip strength needed for Thai Boxing.

Here is a great post that is on Ajarn Chai site addressing a conditioning program mixing the Kettlebell and Thai Boxing. For those of you who would like to see the post off of the TBA-USA site here is a link. http://www.thaiboxing.com/node/78

 

10 Minute Muay Thai Ballistic Conditioning Program

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By elliottn00 – Posted on 31 May 2009

Here is a great conditioning program that only takes 10 minutes and compliments Muay Thai kicks and knees with Kettlebell’s to create a full body ballisitic conditioning circuit. Try it out and let me know what you think.

Set your timer for 10 minutes with 30 second intervals. Continue to run the following circuit with no rest until the buzzer sounds:

Set 1: Double Hand Kettlebell swings
Set 2: Muay Thai Kicks on heavy bag (alternate legs each kick or alternate leg each round)
Set 3: Snatches (alternate right and left arm each round not during each set)
Set 4: Knees on bag or clinching/grappling dummy if you have one. Perform various knees but make them strong and use correct technique.

The circuit will consist of a total of 5 rounds (4 sets as listed above per round). Technique is critical and high volume repetitions are not. As you progress through the rounds you will begin to fatigue. Volume of repetitions per set will begin to shrink. DO NOT sacrifice technique in order to ensure maximum repetitions. This is similar to fatigue in a fight during later rounds. You want to make sure your technique remains strong as you fatigue.

I like to perform this at the end of a good training session. It helps to really burn you out especially when you are already fatigued from the workout. The Swings and Snatches also help to stretch out the body…

Track and monitor your progress especially your repetitions during the last two rounds. Challenge yourself to increase your volume but not at the expense of technique.

Please note, this program assumes your current conditioning level is advanced. If your are not there yet then try reducing the rounds. Start with 2 rounds and work your way up until you reach the 5 rounds. Make sure you are comfortable at each level before progressing to the next.

Enjoy and provide your feedback, Norm Elliott

(please do not perform any of the Kettlebell exercises until you understand Kettlebell basics and safety and you are healthy enough to perform these type of exercises/programs. Performing Kettlebell exercises with the wrong form and technique will cause injury. If you are new to Kettlebell training then seek a professional resource to learn the basics before trying any of these exercises/programs. There are many resources available to learn how to properly use Kettlebell’s.)

How do I improve my Grappling?

How do I improve my Grappling?

Recently I was asked this question by a student who has been training Martial Arts for about 10 years. My response to this student was time on the mat. There comes a point in Martial Arts when “new” techniques no longer make rapid improvements in your skill level. So many people want to look for that next magic drill, technique or training method and overlook that what made the Gracies, Machados, Bruce Lee or any other world-class Martial Artist.

What is that magic formula you ask?? Practice good training methods & training partners.  In his book The Outliers author Malcom Gladwell (www.gladwell.com) has a measurement of time that leads to Mastery. According to his research Gladwell states that 10,000 hours spent on a task leads to mastery. If you have not read this book I highly recommend that you do so I think that it will change the way that you view your time training.

I truly believe that in that 10,000 hours if you have solid training methods and great training partners your road to mastery will be filled with feelings of great accomplishments and friendships.

Over the years I have researched many books, videos, and magazines and the guy that I always come back to with grappling and for overall training methods is Erik Paulson. (www.erikpaulson.com) Why Erik Paulson? If you follow Gladwell’s 10,000 hours to Mastery and look @ Erik’s training timeline he began training in 1974 and has had over 40 different teachers in Martial Arts and a very successful fighting carreer.He has surpassed his 10,000 hours along time ago.

 Erik has a training model that I use here @ Synergy Martial Arts. It is TRIG Technique, Repetition, Isolation, Go.

 Many people just want the Technique and the Go when they are looking for the newest armbar variation or the next cool guard variation. Then wonder why they can’t pull off those new things. Well they have only two parts of the TRIG method and it does not surprise me that they cannot make these things work.

The Technique and Go part of TRIG is the fun, exciting part, the Repetition, Isolation is where the hard work really comes in. We spend a lot of time on Repetition and Isolation here @ Synergy Martial Arts and I will tell you that it is not as fun as trying all of the “newest” innovations in Martial Arts. But it is extremely gratifying when we Go with other Martial Artists who have more time “training” in Martial Arts but not more time practicing Martial Arts.

So to end this post research good training methods, get great training partners and spend a lot of your time in your 10,000 hours training towards mastery in the Isolation and Repetition portions of TRIG and your Technique will be good and your Go will be fun and make the hard work worthwhile.

 

Happy Headbutting,

Shawn

More ways to improve as a Martial Artist

More ways to improve as a Martial Artist

Last weekend (May 16^th & 17^th 2009) I had the great fortune of attending a Seminar that my Instructor Guro Dan Inosanto was teaching. I have been attending his seminars since 1995 and as I reflect back on how I viewed the material that he had taught I am almost amused at my over emphasis on speed while performing the drills he shows.

Every year I have heard him tell us to worry about form and mechanics and not speed and power. That if the form and mechanics was good then the speed and power would come, this year I believe I have only began to understand what he means.

Tonight in my class I taught a couple of drills that I took from Greg Nelson’s Clinch Volume 2 Instructional DVD ( http://www.mmaacombatzone.com) if you don’t have any of Kru Greg’s videos I highly recommend that you check them out.

 The emphasis that I put on the drills was for the students to make the drills an exploration or an examination instead of a race to see how fast that they could perform the drill.

The training I have done in Yoga has really emphasized this to me. My Yoga Instructor Lynlee Sky (http://yogapracticecenter.com) is a great proponent of making sure that you properly set up each piece of the pose before you begin.

This is what I asked of my students tonight. Breaking the drill down piece by piece making sure that they were as exact with each motion I really believe that this also instills in the student as work ethic that is invaluable. The students not only understand the techniques better they also will be able to teach it better.

Here is my challenge to you. The next time you are practicing at home or training @ the school you attend instead of flying thru the drills that are taught, slow them down and really examine what your body is doing. Try to find the places where you feel comfortable and then the places where you don’t. Instead of getting frustrated about not being perfect ask yourself why you are not comfortable. If you don’t have an answer as to why keep asking yourself this will cause you to problem solve and really get a very organic understanding of the material that you are being taught.

Happy Head Butting,

Shawn

Guro Dan Inosanto Seminar May 16 & 17 2009 in Michigan

Hello all,

My Sifu Dave Hatch is hosting Guro Dan Inosanto here in Michigan on May 17 & 18th. If you train Martial Arts and have not had the experience of seeing Guro Dan you should. He is a living legend in Martial Arts. This seminar will expand your knowledge of Martial Arts and dramatically change the way that you train. Hope to see you there.

 

Guro/Sifu Dan Inosanto

May 16^th and 17^th 2009

Time:10-12:30 1:30-4pm

Location: 1060 W. 14 Mile
Clawson, Michigan

Contact: Attributive Martial Arts -
David Hatch

734-981-1774

Email: amarts@sbcglobal.net

The value of mentors

Today I had breakfast with my former Powerlifting coach Mr. Jim Goodrich (Mr.G). He just came back from florida where he spends a portion of the winter. I make my best attempt to see him twice a month for breakfast so that we can catch up and continue to grow our relationship.

While he is no longer my coach in Powerlifting Mr.G is a mentor for me. He was never just a coach he took the time to get to know me and he believed in me when I was new to Powerlifting and did not know what I was capable of.

Looking back I appreciate all of the lessons that he taught us and he continues to teach me today. He instilled in me a desire to progressively improve. His philosophy for the team was he didn’t care whether we won or lost at a Powerlifting meet. He only wanted us to beat us. Our team goal was to improve each lift by 5 lbs each meet. If we did that then we won. Man what a great lesson!!

Mr. G coached many National and World Champs. He taught us to train together as a team. Boys lifted with girls and we didn’t descriminate. We were a team.

He had great sayings that I still use today like “Last ones the best one”. That along with “The meet doesn’t start til the bar comes off the floor”. Really made me focus on finishing strong. For those of you who don’t know the order of a Powerlifting meet it goes Squat, Bench and Deadlift. Meets are long sometimes 8 hours long.

We as a team knew that if the meet was close we could hold our lead or make a run at the lifter ahead of us at the end of the meet. We were all good deadlifters. That emphasis also began to teach me emotional pressure. Once a lifter sees you open with 20-30 lbs more than them at the end of the meet. They begin to feel the pressure. They now have to really step up there game and often were not able to keep up with us.

Over the last 15 years I have become a better person knowing Mr.G. Our relationship which goes far beyond the gym or Powerlifting has helped in ways that I am sure that I am not aware of yet.

Having a mentor and being a mentor I believe is an important part of success. Learning from someone who has made mistakes and then teaching someone what those mistakes are great life lessons.

Happy Headbutting,

Shawn

Why teaching Martial Arts is the best job in the world

Today I had the great opportunity to teach start a 5  session private lesson with a 17 year old young woman. She expressed concerns with going to college, how she would react to a surprise attack and what to do if a man was on top of her.

We worked on being able to relax under pressure and her understanding of reacting emotionally vs thinking her way out of the situation.

Seeing that one of her big concerns was to the issue of a man on top of her. We worked on an escape from top mount with and without a two handed choke being applied.

When we were done with the 1hr and 15 min private I asked her what she felt that we accomplished today. She said she knows how to escape the position of a man on top of her and that she was not afraid of that position any longer.

Now I am not so naive to think that she would get a BJJ blackbelt off of her but she does have a pretty good beginning idea of how to escape that position.

My goal with her is to increase her ability to relax in stressful situations, increase her self-confidence and her self-awareness. I really believe that we are on our way.

I am very excited to assist her with these issues what a rewarding experience for me. There are students that I have had that have impacted my life greatly and this young lady while she does not realize it yet is one of those students.

I will update on this as we go along.

God Bless,

Shawn

Explanation of Jeet Kune Do Inosanto Lineage

Explanation of Jeet Kune Do Inosanto Lineage

 

I began training in Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do and Filipino Martial Arts in 1994 at this time the driving force behind Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do was Sifu Dan Inosanto.

In this video from Youtube Sifu Rick Faye who is a Senior Full Instructor in Jun Fan Martial Arts under Sifu Dan does a great job explaining the Philosophy of the Inosanto Lineage Jeet Kune Do Instructors.

While I am not affiliated with Sifu Rick or his school The Minnesota Kali Group (http://www.mnkali.com/) I have attended his seminars, and have his many of his Instructional Videos and have nothing but the highest respect for him as a person, Instructor, and Martial Artist. He is one of the most humble individuals that I have met in the Martial Arts.

While attending one of his Seminars in Sarnia, Ontario I was invited to get dinner after the seminar. At dinner I was asking Sifu Rick about his experience with Panatukan during this conversation he asked me to look at the manuscript for his book on the Wooden Dummy. This was the first time that I had ever spoken with him on a one to one basis. I was very humbled that he would ask me to look at it and tell him my impression of it.

Sifu Rick is an inspiration to me and I use him as an example to show my students a Martial Artist that performs at a very high level.

Please watch this video I think it is one of the most important videos on Jeet Kune Do and the Inosanto Association.

God Bless,

Shawn

New feature

Synergy Martial Arts will be posting an outline of our Monday, Wednesday and Thursday classes. This reason for this is to hopefully expose people to different methods of training and also to generate some discussion from people who are training. Please feel free to contact us with any questions and concerns.

We welcome the feedback please feel free to absorb what is useful and reject what is useless for you.

Happy Headbutting,

Shawn

Respect and Thanks for my Apprentice Instructorship

Respect and Thanks

On February 7^th 2009, I was given my Apprentice Level Instructorship in both Jun Fan Gung Fu and the Inosanto Blend Filipino Martial Arts system under Sifu/Guro Dan Inosanto.

I am very humbled and proud of this accomplishment; it is one that, until recently, I didn’t think would be possible.

I would like to thank the following people for assisting me in this accomplishment:

Sifu Dan and Simo Paula Inosanto.  Thank you for deeming me worthy to be part of an organization of people that will cause me to grow and evolve, not only as a martial artist, but also as a person. Sifu Dan has been both a very direct and indirect source of Inspiration for me. His continuous evolution causes me to strive to do the same. Thank you for making yourself accessible to us for all these years. I know that my life is been influenced greatly by your contributions to the martial arts world. 

Sifu Dave and Simo Lynda Hatch. I can’t begin to thank you enough for the years of training, encouragement, exposure, and friendship. Without both of you, I would not be the martial artist or person that I am today.

Sifu Paul Vunak. I began watching Sifu Paul’s instructional videos in 1994; without those videos I don’t know if I would be involved with any of the above mentioned people. Your videos helped me to gain an interest in JKD and The Filipino Martial Arts, and the continued support and training that I receive from you pushes me to be a well-balanced person and martial artist.

My Brother Colin. When I began training, he was my training partner. He suffered through my impulsive inspirations, whether it was when he would first wake up each day or late into the evening before we went to bed.

 John Noonan. I met John in a Powerhouse Gym in 1994. It was at his house that I saw Sifu Paul’s Attributes 2 video. In 1995 he introduced me to Sifu Dave and Simo Lynda Hatch; in 2002 we went out and received our Phase 1 Instructorship under Sifu Paul.  Meeting John began an incredible journey in martial arts that I would not have imagined possible.

Jerry Whiting and Jeffery Lopes. Your continued support, friendship, excitement, and passion continue to fuel me as a person, martial artist, and Instructor. I am lucky to have you as students and friends.

T. Kent Nelson. How funny is it to think that one T.V. commercial would have turned into this? I began training Kent in the summer of 2007 and he has been a source of constant encouragement and inspiration.

I feel that this is really the beginning to my journey in martial arts. The last fifteen years have set the table, up to this point, and I believe this accomplishment will cause me to grow in ways that I can’t even imagine. It will be interesting to see where the next fifteen years will take me.

Again, I would like to thank all of the people mentioned above for their support. I believe that success is not measured by the events in your life but by the people that you have around you.

God Bless,

Shawn Kitzman